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I always covet the beautiful Fiesta pitchers at my local antique shops, but prices start at $65 each! I wanted a yellow one to display in the kitchen in our new house, but was on a serious budget. Lucky for me, a local department store was closing and everything (including the fiestaware) was on clearance and I got my yellow pitcher for just $28. Not the vintage collectible I want someday, but a good start for now :)

You can't help but smile when you see all the colors in a collection. The vintage pieces are pretty pricey, though.

Just FYI, many of the antiques (especially the orange/reds) are actually radioactive and should not be used for food/drinks.

I'm not necessarily a collector, though I might be if I cooked and entertained more.
My collection was just what I registered for when I got married. No-one bought me any of the fancy Missoni dishes I registered for, but I got all the fiestaware on my list. In addition to the service for 11 (never got that last set...) I also got the chip and dip tray and a pitcher. I often find myself coveting new pieces... but hate to spend money on stuff I don't need.... or really have room for...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36263456@N08/sets/72157622322873802/

LOVE LOVE LOVE fiesta-ware! Dreaming of open shelving with tons of fiesta-ware right now!

Very pretty, teeze! I'd say you're a budding collector...it can be addicting!

i wouldn't say i collect it but i do use cobalt fiestaware as my everyday dishes and i have some pieces in rose and peacock too.

my mom used to collect Bauer. Much better colors and shapes in my opinion.

My mom collects it and says that it brings a smile to her face every morning when she opens the cabinet to fetch her cereal bowl and sees all those lovely bright colors. This, in turn, brings a smile to my face.

When I needed a new set of dishes, a friend of mine told me that I HAD to get fiestaware. His family owned a hotel in Maine and that's what they used--it's practically indestructible and never goes out of production. When a piece got broken at the hotel, someone would be dispatched to the hardware store for a replacement, didn't matter which color.
I love setting the table with a rainbow of colors and seeing them stacked up in the cupboard. These are happy dishes!

There have been studies done on the "radioactive red" pottery that clear it's use for eating but not storing due to possible leakage or the uranium oxide.

I think Fiestaware is a gateway pottery. I started with it, moved on to Bauer and am currently hooked on Russell Wright.

Fiestaware is a wonderful addition to American popular culture. Sadly enough, the old does chip and wear, just like any other china. It's hardly indestructible. The proportions of the old cups and saucers are different from the new. I happen to prefer the old. But when new Fiestaware started appearing in the department stores about ten years ago, I was overjoyed! You can't cling to the past mindlessly. The new fiestaware has many virtues -- it's microwaveable, it's colorful, it's true to the spirit of the original Fiestaware.

Homer Laughlin, Bauer, Russell Wright -- all geniuses. There's no reason to rank them. They all contributed. Enjoy them all.

Actually much old pottery is not well suited to regular food use, due to high levels of lead used in the glazes. That's why the colors are so terrific! Those old glazes can't be duplicated today -- not exactly.

But as a collector of Bauer, I don't sweat this too much. I avoid putting highly acidic foods in the dishes, and try to reserve them for dry foods (chips, breads, etc.). Also, I tend to use the vintage items for serving pieces, and new items for dining.

Realistically, though, I don't have kids and seriously doubt that I'd suffer any adverse affects if I ate off my old Bauer every day (which I used to do).

arroyo, quite correct with lead and colors. Even thro the 70's lead was present. You can still enjoy the colors that are available now and have fun.
We should all be aware that lead is still used in glazes to this day from places far away.

My husband & I purchased 8 place settings in different colors for his mom for Christmas. It was fun watching her open each color & now his family has fun pairing different foods with the colors. In the past, they were reluctant to use matching dinnerware sets for fear of breaking a piece of a set. But with Fiesta, you can just mix and match! Also very durable. She calls all the time to rave about her dinnerware.

I collect Frankoma, 2 designs, 3 colors. My great-grandparents were friends with Dr. Frank at the University of Oklahoma, so we have the history.

The old Frankoma tends to the earthier colors, but the shape and feel is pure Art Deco Americana. I love the early to mid-century designers who worked to blend mass production/price point with craftmanship and natural materials.

I read that the orange is what killed Andy Warhol. It was in his kitchen. Water leaked on it constantly and somehow it got into the water/food and over time it poisoned him.

I had a huge Fiesta collection and sold it. I loved it while I had it, but yes, the hunt is very addictive. E-Bay is good price wise for Fiesta. I also love Clarice Cliff. I had that too and mixed it with the Fiesta. I started collecting because my grandmother had it at her lake cottage, and I loved having her give me my breakfast on those colorful plates, and chocolate milk in glassed with roosters on them. Ah, good times.

GORGEOUS. In a perfect world, all of my crockery will be Fiesta. Doesn't matter if it's vintage or not, I just ADORE the range of colours!

And as far as I know, Brilliant Red was the only radioactive one. And yes, it used uranium for the colouring - the problem with it, as with all of the other ones of that era, wasn't so much the uranium as the lead in the glaze. And yes, uranium salts can leak out with acidic foods.

I desperately want SOMETHING in Brilliant Red (and a geiger counter to freak out guests!), I just wouldn't eat off it. You'd have to sit on it for about a year to get any adverse affects, anyway.

@dandy. Where did you get that?

Warhol died in New York City at 6:32 a.m. on February 22, 1987. According to news reports, he had been making good recovery from a routine gallbladder surgery at New York Hospital before dying in his sleep from a sudden post-operative cardiac arrhythmia. Prior to his diagnosis and operation, Warhol delayed having his recurring gallbladder problems checked, as he was afraid to enter hospitals and see doctors. His family sued the hospital for inadequate care, saying that the arrhythmia was caused by improper care and hyperhydration.

My father-in-law has the hugest collection of these. I so covet them - maybe I'll get real lucky and he'll will them to me.

Oh how I love Fiesta!! If I ever get married, I will definitely be registering for the dinnerware to replace my ugly old plates! In the meantime I just drool over the originals in antique stores :-).

BAUER. check it out....

My Fiestaware are seconds that I got at a local restaurant supply shop. Mugs $2, Plates $5, etc. None of them have any flaws that you can notice.

I registered for Fiestaware on my wedding registry a few months ago and recieved nineteen place settings. Doing the dishes is my favorite thing to do nowadays!

I adore Fiestware and I'm still kicking myself in the butt for selling off all of mine:( especially the Gray

I registered for Fiesta as part of my wedding registry. I'M SO HAPPY that I did! As each set/gift/piece would arrive, I would be over-joyed with the color. I LOVE them ALL!

I don't think Andy Warhol's death had anything to do with Fiesta ware. Actually, when you think it about, it's an urban legend that's kind of funny. Andy Warhol himself might have found such an idea funny -- that leaching Fiesta ware killed a legendary collector.

I have the greatest respect for Andy Warhol's talent, and have a tear-out of his rendering of Botticelli's Venus up on my bulletin board right now. Few people realize that he put in years of work as a commercial artist before succeeding as a fine artist.

Warhol died prematurely because he was irrationally afraid of medical care. He had a private nurse hired to be at his side, and as a result (IMHO), there was a left-hand right hand problem at the hospital that might have been caught had he been willing to be hospitalized and treated as most other patients were.

There are reasons for stardardization of care -- just as there are reasons for standard police and military protocols.